Twitter Scavenger Hunt!

These days, anyone with a mobile phone and a Twitter account can commit an “act of journalism.” As digital journalism students, I expect you to commit acts of journalism whenever you stumble upon news. In that spirit, we are embarking on a Twitter Scavenger Hunt with students at a dozen other universities in the U.S., Canada, and Egypt. I’ll hand out the assignment in class.

Postscript: Here are some Storified highlights of our scavenger hunt.

Why have a Twitter scavenger hunt? To reinforce the idea that if you have a cell phone in your pocket, you can commit an act of journalism anywhere, anytime.

Just ask:

@jkrums, a.k.a. “Miracle on the Hudson Guy” Janis Krums.

SMU Journalism ’09 grad Holly Roberts, whose cell phone shot of President Bush’s first campus visit after leaving office made the rounds in the national blogosphere and drew praise from a Dallas Morning News editor.

Or SMU Journalism ’11 grad Meredith Shamburger, who constantly snapped Twitpics during her coverage of Hurricane Irene in upstate New York last fall.

You are hereby expected to pounce on breaking news! If news breaks on or near campus this semester, I expect #j2380 students to be all over it — post Twitter pics and alert your classmates at The Daily Campus!

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